CdA’s Gomez wins again

Coeur d'Alene's long-distance ace Kinsey Gomez returned to the top of the state championship podium at the State 5A cross country meet Saturday.

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By Greg Lee

Staff writer

WORLEY, Idaho
– As a freshman, Kinsey Gomez shocked the State 5A meet field by knocking off
the defending champion.

Two years later, the Coeur
d’Alene standout dethroned another state champ, and
this time Gomez didn’t sneak up on anybody.

Gomez, in fact, pounded the field into submission, clocking 18
minutes, 9.41 seconds around the 3.1-mile layout at Circling Raven Golf Course
to beat reigning state champ Liz Brandon of Eagle by more than 33 seconds
Saturday afternoon.

Gomez and Brandon were neck and neck through the first of two
loops before Gomez sprinted from the pack.

“She had one more gear than I did,” Brandon said. “She’s a great competitor and I
really love running against her. She deserves this one.”

Gomez was unchallenged in winning the state-qualifying regional
meet on the same course a week earlier in 18:41.5. Her state time was even more
impressive considering there was a steady 25-mph wind coming from the west that
cut through the runners for half the race.

“Before the race they (the coaches) told us there were certain
parts (of the course) where you wanted to be behind people and on certain sides
of them, and I was going to take that to heart,” Gomez said. “But it didn’t
really play into my race as I thought it would.”

That’s because she never trailed.

“I wasn’t expecting to be out in the lead,” Gomez said. “I
thought I would stay in the front pack and see where I could take the lead.”

“Was that beyond spectacular?” Compton asked. “It was perfect. The maturity
in her running is beyond words.”

The CdA boys, led by the third-place finish of David Norris
(16:25.13), took second behind perennial power Boise. The Viks had 83 points, 30 behind Boise.

Leading Boise
was Eric Fitzpatrick, who captured a third consecutive state title (16:01.86).
Finishing runner-up for a second straight year was LakeCity’s
C.J. Helbling (16:02.59).

The 5A boys race was the best of the day. Fitzpatrick and
Helbling were side by side most of the way until Fitzpatrick broke ahead with
30 meters to go.

“He’s the best competitor I’ve ever raced,” Fitzpatrick said of
Helbling. “He was the only person I was willing to lose to. But I didn’t want
to lose. If anyone else had beat me I would have been pissed, but I would have
been OK with him beating me. We were within three feet of each other the entire
race until the finish.”

Helbling, who has battled a quad injury the past month, thought
he raced as well as he could Saturday.

“I think I had a good race, I’m just not in the best shape,”
Helbling said.

3A: The Timberlake girls
captured the first state title for a girls sport in school history.

Timberlake coach Shawn Lawlor knew his team put five runners in
first before any other team. But he refused to accept congratulations until he
was officially told his team won.

“I haven’t been this emotional since my kids were born,” Lawlor
said. “An absolute dream come true. I started this (program) from scratch (in
2003). We had nothing. Now it’s like you’re baby’s all grown up and she goes
out and wins a state title.”